Green Tea Topical

I know this one was discussed years ago but I didn’t find any threads out there with anyone who followed thru. I have seen beneficial effects from the shampoo alone and was wondering if this one slipped thru or just had no longterm success. The studies out there were pretty neat showing that it handles more of Type 1 DHT which most hairloss treatments miss. I think that Dr. Swaya had found that it was not only important in sebum regulation but that it also attacked inflammation pretty hard core thru MMP-9 suppression. I can attest to the sebum reduction and overall quality and appearance. I have also noticed some reduced loss. By the way this all started with me taking Mercola’s whole-foods multivitamin(w/ green tea) and then realizing that my loss had decreased a decent amount. I narrowed it down to the green tea. I know IH takes a EGCG green tea extract as an auxiliary in his regimen. In fact I have tried Ecklonia Cava and think green tea trumps it for me in terms of results. Anybody out there ever gave it a go?

“A door within the fire creaks, suddenly flies open and a girl is standing there. Eyes alight with glowing hair all that fancy paints as fair, she takes her fan and throws it in the Lion’s Den.”

WOW - I missed this, great post. DO you mean a green tea shapoo or tiopical as in Zix. I have found the green tea is very helpful although it can be too warming in TCM terms, hence potentially increasing sebum in warm climates - but as topical you have my complete attention….

Which Green Tea Topical and/or Shampoo are you using?

Thsi would make sene from a number of perspectives, especially if sebum is stress related.

I use Aubreys http://www.aubrey-organics.com/ProductInfo/122.aspx shampoo. I kind of alternate it with the other ones. It has a bunch of other stuff in there with some grain alcohol(can dry a bit), but seems to help in short spurts. I have actually been supplementing with it thru Mercola’s multivitamin and taking egcg extract and found it slowed down the already slowed down fall. I think it would be great in a topcal. All the evidence points to it smashing inflammation, sebum, prolongues anagen stage of growth and more.

Zix- I had wondered if you had ever considered it. Seeing as though it would handle Type 1 5-AR(in follicle controls sebum secretion) which most treatments miss. I think it was heavily discussed at Hairsite years ago.

I bet Elsom topicals would nano-encapsulate this. I will check and get back.

“A door within the fire creaks, suddenly flies open and a girl is standing there. Eyes alight with glowing hair all that fancy paints as fair, she takes her fan and throws it in the Lion’s Den.”

Green Tea Extract Grows Hair in Vitro, Might Work in Vivo
Rub this on your head and grow hair? (Photo by AMagill)

We’ve all heard about how Asians drink lots of green tea and usually have full heads of hair. Does this mean green tea improves hair growth?

Despite all the positive news about the health benefits of green tea, in my opinion the jury is still out on this one. Surprisingly, not a lot of studies have been done on green tea and hair growth in humans, especially when the green tea is topically applied.

Green tea is a popular worldwide beverage, and its potential beneficial effects such as anti-cancer and anti-oxidant properties are believed to be mediated by epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a major constituent of polyphenols.

Recently, it was reported that EGCG might be useful in the prevention or treatment of androgenetic alopecia by selectively inhibiting 5alpha-reductase activity. However, no report has been issued to date on the effect of EGCG on human hair growth. This study was undertaken to measure the effect of EGCG on hair growth in vitro and to investigate its effect on human dermal papilla cells (DPCs) in vivo and in vitro.

EGCG promoted hair growth in hair follicles ex vivo culture and the proliferation of cultured DPCs. The growth stimulation of DPCs by EGCG in vitro may be mediated through the upregulations of phosphorylated Erk and Akt and by an increase in the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax ratio. Similar results were also obtained in in vivo dermal papillae of human scalps. Thus, we suggest that EGCG stimulates human hair growth through these dual proliferative and anti-apoptotic effects on DPCs.

In this study, one of the main green tea catechins, epigallocatechin-3-gallate (or ECGC) was used topically in cultured hair follicles, cultured dermal papilla cells, and the scalps of human volunteers.

In cultured hair follicles, the application of a 95% green tea extract more than doubled the length of hair follicles. Hair growth almost tripled. In the cultured skin cells, the extract increased the growth of new cells in a dose-dependent manner.

The authors report that EGCG affects the expressions of Erk, Akt, Bcl-2 and Bax, and suggest that this effect may be the reason behind the results seen in follicle and skin cell cultures.

To see whether similar effects happen in vivo, the authors mixed 10% EGCG in ethanol and applied it directly onto human scalps. Again, significant changes in the expressions were seen, which means that if their theory about these expressions being the cause of hair growth, ECGC works both in vitro and in vivo. The authors conclude that ECGC stimulates hair growth through its proliferative and anti-apoptotic effects, and that ECGC may prolong the anagen stage.

So can you do the same thing at home? It seems so.

To make your own inhuman experiment, you’d need to buy a green tea extract with as much catechins as possible (95% ECGC was used in the study) and mix it with ethanol. All you need to do then is rub it on your head and wait for results.”
-http://inhumanexperiment.blogspot.com/2008/12/topical-green-tea-catechin-grows-hair.html

“A door within the fire creaks, suddenly flies open and a girl is standing there. Eyes alight with glowing hair all that fancy paints as fair, she takes her fan and throws it in the Lion’s Den.”